Two men allegedly involved in a spate of armed hold-ups at a number of stores in the same chain, leaving other employees fearing they would be next, were remanded in custody upon their arraignment on Wednesday.
Tyson Bugeja, 26, from Cospicua and David J. Bonnici, a 34-year-old delivery person from Vittoriosa, both pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges linking them to four incidents that took place over a month, targeting different outlets of the same retail chain.
The first robbery took place on Boxing Day at 7.45pm at a convenience shop in Żabbar.
On January 21, another store was targeted in Paola at around 9pm.
The hooded and armed robbers made off with cash and slightly injured one of the victims.
The duo allegedly struck again days later, on January 28 in the evening, targeting another store in San Ġwann.
The fourth hold up took place on January 30 at a Zejtun convenience shop at around 7.30pm.
Prosecuting inspector Lydon Zammit gave an overview of the investigations, which included the analysis of hours of CCTV footage from the different crime scenes and piecing together the evidence that led to the arrest.
The two suspects were granted police bail until investigators carried out further verifications, and while Bonnici received treatment at Mount Carmel hospital.
Upon arraignment, both accused pleaded not guilty to four separate instances of aggravated theft, holding their victims against their will, being in possession of a weapon and slightly injuring one of the victims.
Bugeja was separately charged with breaching probation, two previous bail decrees as well as relapsing.
Both pleaded not guilty and requested bail.
However that request was strongly objected to by the prosecution.
All four incidents were “very serious,” started off Inspector Zammit, highlighting the “aggressive” manner whereby the thieves had burst into the stores as captured on CCTV footage seen by investigators.
Moreover, in three of the robberies, customers who happened to be shopping at the time were held against their will along with the shop employees, added Zammit.
The pattern followed by the suspect thieves had induced fear among the workforce at all stores in the chain, causing them to question whether any one of them would be targeted next, the court was told.
And, moreover, there was quite a number of civilian witnesses still to testify.
Bugeja’s lawyer, Franco Debono, countered that the case against his client was “weak” and stressed that since the accused had abided by conditions while under police bail, there was no justification for the prosecution to object to bail.
Bonnici’s lawyer, Daniel Attard, argued that the accused was a first time offender and had willingly sought help to address his personal problems, expressing his wish to return to normal life.
After hearing submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Astrid May Grima, turned down the request in view of the serious nature of the charges and the many civilian witnesses still to testify.
With respect to Bonnici and in view of the medical certificate presented, the court recommended that the accused was to be detained at the Forensic Unit to be afforded all necessary help.
Inspectors Lydon Zammit, Stephen Gulia and Sarah Zerafa prosecuted.